Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-02-17

% yet mere mole In tie ground. There
are lew stones in To hole and a little
mortar holds the stone together. "We'ye
got Inc foundation allaid already" said
a boomer of this SPECIAL Birmingham en-
lerprlse. Glow long ave you been build
ing thus tar?' | aked. ''Since last
spring" he told me, dding: 1--WE would
have had 1t all done nd running by this
time, only the bpildes could not get ma
terial fast enough" ventured to sug-
gest that they han't seemed to want
things very fast, and the gentleman
looked as if he pitsd me. He told me
thaJ the Caldwell Hotel was q good
thlng for the city, cen if it were never
built; tue mere digging of that hole in
tbe ground had snt up property ali
| around III over % pelcent. Probably nv
| aoillty atnSurlng is much cramped, Any
now here Is problem that cannot make
| come out as Birminham seems able to
make 1t come out: III it takes from May
! TO February to build,he foundati on OF one
mouse, now long is 1t going to take to
Dulld whole City ?' The right answer
so birmingham nathematicians all
nave 1.-THE right answer is just about
sixty minutes. Bd, somehow l can't
make it come out that way. Still, build
Ing or no building, he real estate boom
goes m errIly on.
1t is claimed, and with apparent JUS
tlce, that the city gened 10000 in popula-
tI0n In the twelve months Just ended.
Where are those D,000 people living?
Ihere are few moe houses here now
thah there were a year ago. A building
ooom that oooms, that is what Birming-
nam needs most, next to a system of
drainage that shall empty her yards and
her streets of nastiness and stenches.
ANA the need Is almost as urgent on the
same score OF health's demands. People
are co0ped up here as no people can stay
cOoped up ana stay free Of disease. Not
In the prospectus? No; but it is true, nev-
ertheless.
"Real estate spectators have run the
price OF property up 80 high" said an in
telilgent citizen TO me The other day.
'.tnat poor man can't afford to have any,
thing like decent house unless he lives
so lar out OF town that he has TO ride two
mules to death to get TO his work - | re-
peated this to one of the controllers of
the land company and he pooh poohed it.
L urged him then TO give me some figures
that would show just what a working
man could get home for. He did. The
illustration he offered was more than Or
dInarily favorable; he said as much; in
deed the plan he described, so he told me.
was really the outcome OF special gener-
osity upon the land company's part, aim
ing to help the working people along. His
OWA ul S5 L Will T6DSaL. anu SO lar as
can. his own words.
1--WE originally LAID off our building lots
in that part of the city suitable for work
lngmen's homes" he said, in plots of 100
feet by 1872 feet. But land has gone up SO
fast that now such lot, even in a COM
paratively undesirable part of the CITY.
will bring $4,000 or $4,000. THE land
company paid $25 an acre for it. Such a
price, of course, puts 1t beyond the reach
of the poor man, for it is unimproved and
he would have to pay pretty steep price
to build house upon it. The land COM
pany has solyed the problem though, and
we are preparing to build large number
of houses which we propose to sell-lot,
building and ALTO the working people
at very small price and on easy terms"
What price? What terms?"
eve will sell house and lot together
for 200 and give the buyer four years
to pay for it in.''
"What sort of house?
ave propose to take some of our lots
that are 100 by 1872 feet and cut them up
into five smaller lots, each 100 feet deep
and about SO feet wide. On each small
lot we will build a house, add the whole
thing, house ana lot complete, we will
sell tor $1,000"
"How big will the house be?'
alt will have three rooms In it,
lAOH luuSu iOSS 1T COSO W UullQ SuCn
housep
1--WE are able to put them I'D very
cheap; they will cost US about $500
apiece"
This is counted generous in Bjrming-
ham. More than one man insisted on
that. Let us analyZe it q little. The
house costs $500; with the lot 1t costs
$1,000; the ground itselfis put in for 5000.
AS there are five of these smaller lots
made out OF the original lot, that original
lot, 100 by 1872 feet, is sold for 81, 800. it
doesn't damage the land company much
to be generous, does it? The terms on
which 1T is proposed to sell these houses
provide that S25 must be paid monthly
per cent. interest shall be paid
regularly on the debt due TO the land
company. When L looked around Birm-
ingham and saw some of these narrow,
mean-looklng, three-room cottages" 1
thanked kind heaven that | was not de-
pendent on Birmingham generosity"
Think of il hereand hereabout in limitless
acres Of land unimpr0yed, where COM
paratlyely there are no houses and no
Immediate prospect of houses, here il is
deemed big-heartedness to crowd and
cram five make-believe homes into one
wee bit of lot, less than 100 by 200 feet
in extent. Yes, and big hearted, too, to
CudISe pl,ZVO IOr buTeS low, SmalI,
cramped rooms.
eve have very peaceful, law-abiding
worklngmen here" volunteered the same
gentleman, who illustrated this bit of
land company liberality. "'Fhey do not
worry us with grievances, and | reckon
they are pretty well satisfied" With
due respect, / must differ little with
him; it was my task to go in among the
workers; l saw them at their work and |
saw them at their homes. There is going
to be a row down here one of these days
If affairs go on as now. Every man who
earns dollar and spends it in Birming-
ham to-day is paying tribute TO the real
estate boomer, whose levy of tax is chiefly
upon the man who least can afford TO pay
1.-THE who gets but 81 or 50 for a whole
days work. 1t would be the service of a
philanthrOpist to lash every one OF these
boomers out beyond the city limits; their
presence here is threat that deserves
rank with other evils that I've told about.
But OF labor, labor's recompense, of that
more little late.
Let the Girls Bangs Alone.
"DcaSv Dean'' III Detroit Free Press.